Robert (Bob) Cummin Katter was born in Brisbane, Queensland in 1918 and educated at Mount Carmel College, Charters Towers. In 1936, he enlisted with the Australian Military Forces (AMF) and, during World War II, attained the ranks of Lieutenant (1940) and Captain (1942). His appointment was terminated (medically unfit) in July 1942. 

After the war, Bob Katter was active in Queensland local government as a Councillor for the Cloncurry Shire Council (1946-67), including as Deputy-Chairman (1946-48) and Chairman (1948-51 and 1964-67). He was a member of the Executives of both the Western Queensland Local Government Association (1946-51) and the Queensland Local Government Association (1949-51). In this period his occupation is cited as theatre proprietor and business manager. He was also once an active member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and for a time worked as a union delegate on the Brisbane wharves. In the late 1950s and early 1960s he hosted his own current affairs radio program for 4LG Longreach, called 'Katter's Candid Comments'.
 
In 1966, as a Country Party candidate, Katter won the federal seat of Kennedy (Qld) from the ALP which had held it since Federation. He retained the seat at the 1969, 1972, 1974, 1975, 1977, 1980, 1983, 1984 and 1987 general elections. For 24 years, his personality and vigorous campaigning style made him unbeatable in his vast central Queensland electorate, an area of approximately 772,000 sq.km. Following the 1984 electoral redistribution it included the centres of Atherton, Barcaldine, Charters Towers, Clermont, Cloncurry, Hughenden, Longreach, Mt Isa, Normanton, Tully and Winton as well as Dunk, Hinchinbrook and Mornington Islands. The federal electorate also covered the Queensland Legislative Assembly electorates of Mt Isa and Mulgrave and parts of Barron River, Cook, Flinders, Gregory, Hinchinbrook, Peak Downs and Warrego. 

In the second year of the McMahon Liberal Coalition Government, Katter was Minister for the Army (1972). During his long Parliamentary career, however, he also had considerable experience as a member of Parliamentary committees relating to House of Representatives Standing Orders (1969-72, 1973-74, 1978-80 and 1985-90), Foreign Affairs (1970-72), Foreign Affairs and Defence (1973-74 and 1978-87), Road Safety (1973-84, including as Chairman 1976-83), Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs (1976-79), Family Law Issues (1978-80), Family and Community Affairs and Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade (1987-90).

Katter made several overseas visits as a member of various Parliamentary delegations, including attending the 25th Anniversary Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York (1970), as a member of the Australian Parliamentary Observer Team to Rhodesia (1980), a member of the Australian Biennial Parliamentary Exchange Visit to Japan (1983) and a member of the Parliamentary Delegation to China (1986). 
 
During the Whitlam Government, Katter was a member of the Joint Opposition Shadow Ministry and spokesman on Northern Development and the Northern Territory (1974-75). He was also Chairman of the Local Government Association's Canberra Committee of Local Government and a co-founder of the Stockman's Hall of Fame in Longreach.  

Bob Katter senior retired from federal politics in February 1990, and died a month later. His son, Robert (Bob) Carl Katter, is the current member for Kennedy (1993-    ).


Sources:
(1) Who's Who in Australia 1988, p 491
(2) Parliamentary Handbook of the Commonwealth of Australia 1988 (24th ed), pp 135-136; 1991 (25th ed), p 235
(3) The Courier-Mail, Brisbane, 5 March 1990, p 6; 16 March 1990, p 16